Planet Protectors: Hard Times/Chapter Three
Scrambling down the corridor were a trio of animals overwhelmed in emotion; Gary the gawky guide dog, stumbling behind Rufus the blundering basset hound and led by Scott the worryful wolf. The Planet Protectors' starboard ship was much larger than it appeared to be on the outside; as such the trip to save Jack felt like an eternity, especially due to Gary's unfamiliarity with the layout, causing the three's trip to abruptly stop whenever the guide dog took a wrong turn and had to be relocated. "I really have no idea how he got up in space, I swear!" Rufus caught up to Scott, tripping up over his own feet and being caught by the already worn-out wolf. "I know, Rufus. We'll figure it out, don't worry... Where's Gary?" Scott groaned, asking the question for the seventh time during the last ten minutes. "Oh, there he is..." Rufus peered down the corridor opposite them to find Gary hesitant to knock on a dorm door. "Gary? Who is that- Oh. Uh..." Scott glanced at the dorm number. "46. Polly. Uh. I don't think that's a good idea-" Gary gave Scott a scornful glance. "She can fly? I know I'm not on the greatest terms with her, but surely she'd put her differences aside to help out Jack. I'm gonna knock now." Whilst Gary and Scott debated their door decision, Rufus tried to get his voice heard but it was nothing short of a mumble. "Uh guys... Shouldn't we hurry? Also Polly sprained her wing, remember?" The basset hound sighed, froze for a moment and then in a state of panic scurried alone to the balcony. Gary disregarded Scott's advice and politely knocked anyway, only to be greeted by silence. Regardless of Scott's silent but thorough gestures of disapproval, Gary tried again, this time with his fist firmly hitting the door. "WHAT?!? I'M REAL BUSY HERE. WHO IS IT?" Gary and Scott grimaced. She was certainly there. "Uh... Scott here, Polly. We're in a crisis." Scott waited for the automatic door to slide open. Gary grabbed onto Scott's shoulders, acting as a makeshift shifty shadow as he shuffled one step at a time behind the wolf. Polly was slouched on her back, swinging peacefully on a hammock stained in cheese bites of which she was scoffing on whilst catching up on daytime television. Her room was equally as messy, covered in hordes of clothes and trinkets that were scattered together in piles that somewhat resembled the layout of a nest. Polly's room had a lot of perched places to retreat to, most of which were too high for the ordinary animal to reach; as such a lot of her possessions were covered in dust, causing Gary's nose to twitch. “So... What's the crisis?" Polly took another cheese bite, spraying residue in various directions that caused Gary to audibly wince, with Scott coughing over it to cover up the guide dog's presence. Scott was about to explain the situation but received a barrage of messages from Rufus so decided to wrap his conversation with the bored bird rather early. "Please come to the balcony, Polly. Jack's in trouble... Uh..." He paused for a moment. "Someone's here to see you." Silence. Scott groaned and peeled Gary off his back, causing the two to squabble. Scott gave quick eye contact to the two and dashed out the open door in a frenzy almost greater than Mo Cheetah's gold medal record time. "Gary? What are you doing here?" Polly groaned, turning the volume up in the hopes that he would simply scurry away. "Look, I don't want to buy anything, I don't care if it's at a 1% discount, just-" Gary broke away from his stiff posture to interrupt Polly; her lazy demeanour extended to her communication, Gary had no time for this. Her fellow Planet Protector was at stake! "No, no it's not that! Jack somehow fell from the ship's balcony and he's hurtling towards space! You can fly-" Gary's face zipped from one emotion to the other whilst Polly's hadn't moved in the slightest. "Oh, sure, and you want me to buy some kinda whack gadget that'll surely help me reach him and won't be total bogus trash." Gary scratched his face in frustration. "Look, Polly, I know we're not on the best of terms but I'm not trying to sell anything! Jack's in serious trouble." Gary pointed towards the balcony and began to leave. Polly didn't budge. "So, what do you want me to do about it? I sprained my wing dealing with that cruddy red light, remember? Or were you too busy trying to sell things?" Gary grinned and fumbled around in his backpack. "Oh! I have medicine that could fix you right up just for the low, low, low price of-" Gary stopped upon receiving a pillow straight to the face. "Please leave." Vexed from his begrudging conversation with the disinterested bird, Gary shuffled around his backpack and reached for another sip of alcohol. He struggled for a moment to slip the alcohol back into his backpack, shaking his head slightly in a futile attempt to gain some awareness whilst trying to stumble down the never-ending corridor. Gary, despite his blurred vision, attempted to read a sign above him. ("Uh... Where to go... The Falcon's Knee?... Nah, that can't make any sense. There's no falcons in this ship.") Gary noticed a blurred figure scurrying past him before stopping to observe the guide dog for a short moment. "Uh... Are you okay? You've been staring at that sign with intense concentration for a while now... Y'know, scratching your head, eyebrows furrowed and such..." It was Marshall, the salamander working on finding the anti-internal combustion engine that Audrey had mentioned earlier. His partner Jabari the jackal also stopped in their tracks to assist the guide dog find his way to the balcony. "Hm... Where are you trying to go?" Jabari queried, rubbing the fur on the end of their chin between their fingers. "I'm trying to get to the balcony, the ice cream dude with the stretchy fingers flew out into space and we need to help him." As Gary explained his situation the jackal and salamander's eyes interlocked as their eyebrows curved in utter scepticism. "Uh... Right..." Marshall bit his lip and shrugged his shoulders towards Jabari in the hopes that they'd know what to do. Jabari gently raised his hand to calm Marshall down. "I know, why don't you stay here whilst we go and find you some help. Our friend Sakari should be able to guide you and help you find your... Ice cream friend.") With that, the two buddies rushed off to find their sheep acquaintance. Gary squinted his eyes for a moment before wandering off in the direction of the sign. ...Luckily for him, it just so happened to be the balcony. As he hobbled along the corridor, he felt his eyes squinting as the light source grew stronger from outside. Though his vision was blurry, he could just about make out the half-polished floor. ("Hm... Why was this a job half done?") His eyes shifted to a mop flat on the floor next to a spilt bucket. His ears suddenly raised at the sound of Jack screeching from beyond the boundaries of space; despite his distance from the ship his shrill voice was loud and clear. Everything was hazy to the groggy guide dog, though he could see a collection of animals on the other side of the balcony. Gary shook his head, rubbed his eyes and tried to identify them. Melissa and Casey (the corgi and coyote respectively) were usually confident however in his scenario they were huddled around the husky Sonar, capable of keeping a stern posture despite the pressuring situation at hand. She had summoned her signature wrecking ball and began spinning it high above the two to protect them from getting hit. The two animals sighed in relief to see the wrecking ball's spiky exterior convert into an array of shimmering grappling hooks. "Casey. Focus. Are you ready?" Sonar continued to spin her grappling hook, jolting Casey into action. "Uhh... Yeah! Yep!" Casey covered in sweat danced a smoke bomb around in her palms before keeping them steady and preparing to throw it. Sonar's perfect timing came into play as she hurtled the grappling hook straight into Jack's direction. "It's not going to travel far enough!" Melissa observed as the gravity barrier grasped the grappling hook into stasis. "Don't worry, I got this!" Casey bent back and lunged, hurling the bomb and causing it to collide with the grappling hook, making it disappear and reappear with extra force extending its reach. Jack sluggishly extended his slimy arms that swerved up and down, flopping around his hand in a successful attempt to grab the hook which was met with immense relief and cheering from the once on edge crew. As the celebrations from Jack (who was sporting a huge grin and enjoying taking in the attention) and the crew continued Rufus was notably quiet as he came to a sudden realisation. "Wait... How is he going to get back?" "I mean... Nobody held onto the other side." Rufus wiped the newly formed sweat from his forehead as the other crew members halted their celebrations. Whilst everyone scurried around in a frenzy of panic, Scott furrowed his brows before taking his palm away from his face and getting it together. "Hang tight. If you have any creative ideas... Uh, feel free to use them. I'm going to find Cindy." Casey scurried over to Melissa and began frantically pulling at her arms. "Casey, this isn't going to work, I already tried, remember? My arms won't stretch that far." Regardless of Melissa's explanation, Casey carried on pulling at her delicately formed ice cream arms. As this happened, Melissa's body began to shrink as her entire mass began traversing to her arms until there was no supply remaining. "You can do it! Just... Try harder!" Casey dashed away and followed Scott, yelling. "I'LL BE BACK IN A SECOND WITH MORE ICE CREAM!!!" Gary observed the whole ordeal from the alcove of the balcony however struggled to think straight. All that was on his mind right now was water. A fresh glass should be enough to help him think better, he believed. It seemed to have worked well; as after a rather harsh collision with his face to the wall, the incoherent guide dog caused a water cooler that just so happened to be right next to him to fall and spill over the floor, streaming down the corridor and spilling into the alcove. This was perfectly timed with his brain (and legs) giving up on him and thumping him flat onto the ground. Groaning and opening his eyes, Gary soon noticed the water and steadied himself up on all fours, stumbling on the now slippery surface. The drowsy guide dog felt his sense of reality crawling back to him as he began to sip the water from the ground using his tongue. With his newfound sobriety, Gary took awareness of the peculiarity of his scenario upon noticing the crew's focus had shifted over to him. "Uhh... I was just a little thirsty, don't mind me." Gary blushed, only making the situation worse by attempting to quickly rise from the ground; due to the slippery surface he fell once more, sliding through the balcony with his legs up, leaving a trial of water behind him. "HEY! I JUST cleaned that up, man!" Jack yelled from above, quickly refocusing as he was still attempting to reach Melissa to no further avail. "Oh, right. Sorry, sorry, I'll clean it up! Let me see what I have here..." In a frenzy the overwrought guide dog rummaged through his seemingly never-ending supply of gadgets from his pockets including a small handful of bolts, a rubber duck, an entire boxset of David AntBurrow documentaries, a Olly Purrs CD and a fishing rod. "Hm, this is all I have in my right pocket. Lemme check my left-" Melissa suddenly recoiled her arms after noticing one of the objects casually tossed aside by the guide dog already preoccupied with his left pocket, pulling out beach balls and blenders from left and right. "Gary! Great idea, the fishing rod! I'll get you closer to Jack, and you can reel him in!" Before Gary had time to think his game plan through, Melissa had already reached her arm out, formed a huge fist and grabbed the guide dog. "Wha- Oh, okay! No sweat, no sweat." Gary was sweating. Whilst he had just patched things up with Scott, he felt as if he still lacked some form of closure. That may have been all the open space he was currently occupying, however. "Melissa, are you serious? This klutz isn't going to be able to save him. Need I remind you of..." Sonar began to recollect the times Gary had screwed up with her hand. "Ugh. Never mind. My point is that I ran out of fingers to count with." Melissa was hesitant however Casey pushed her. "Valid point, but we have no time here! Mel, just go for it already!" Casey's voice was noticeably shaky despite her usual casual approach to high pressure situations. "Aright, this is as far as I can go, Gary! Quickly reel that grappling hook in!" As Melissa sluggishly carried Gary further away from the ship with her large fists, Gary's mind began to focus. He had to hurry, otherwise Jack would be out of reach once again. Confident as a cheetah at a sporting event, Gary swung the rod behind him, only for it to catch onto his tail, letting out a huge yelp as the string wrapped around his body and tied him up in the process. "Gary! Sort your shaky heiny out and focus!" Melissa's hands quickly transformed into thousands of blunt needles, intricately untangling Gary as he hung upside down before being tossed right side up after Melissa transformed back to normal. His second attempt was successful; this time he was able to pierce the rope of the grappling hook, connecting it to the fishing rod. "Oh, thank goodness. It's starting to get cold out here, right Gary? Or is it just my ice cream bod?" Jack grinned. Gary assumed this was Jack's attempt of 'small talk', though even the guide dog knew that now was an inappropriate moment to do so. Without hesitation, Gary reeled the grappling hook in, with Jack maintaining his goofy grin as he trailed behind. Melissa cautiously returned the guide dog back to ground, as he continued to reel Jack in until he crash landed onto the floor, squishing his slimy body in the process. "Oof. Oh man, thanks a bunch, dude!" Jack grinned, readjusting his jaw. "Now that that's sorted..." Melissa took a deep breath. "HOW ON XYLOX DID THIS END UP HAPPENING?" Melissa yelled at a volume that blew Gary's ears away whilst Jack's drooped down. "I know, I know, I'm a klutz!" Jack crossed his arms in defence. "I was cleaning the balcony and listening to my favourite artist, Lady BahBah. Y'know, Lemur Game, Perfect Iguana, Panda Face..." Jack shimmied from side to side as Melissa and Gary groaned. "Yeah, I've heard of her. Are you gonna explain how this all happened, or?" Gary bluntly cut Jack off. "...Pantherazzi? They're all bops." Jack took notice of his less than impressed audience and decided to wrap things up. "Anywho... I may have gotten a teensy bit carried away dancing and kinda-" Melissa, knowing her brother oh so well, cut him off. "...You forgot that we still haven't built a gate around the end of the balcony and fell of it, right?" Jack rolled his eyes, only for them to get stuck which lead him to shake his head into a whirlwind that corrected itself. "Yeah..." He blushed. "Oh, right. That was my job, correct?" Sonar stepped forward, causing Gary to tense up in anxiety. Sonar noticed his awkward outward personality was stronger than usual, so she attempted to ease him. "Hey, Gary. Sorry about what I said earlier. Looks like you're not too much of a klutz after all." Before Gary had the chance to respond, Sonar had already collected wooden panels that laid firmly in her biceps as she carried them towards the edge of the balcony. Gary watched as she summoned a hammer from her belt; the weapon shimmered and lit up as it formed in her palm. She then summoned her wrecking ball, tightly bending the rope the middle that in turn converted it into a whip. Sonar wrapped the whip rope loosely around each wooden panel and tied them together, ready to begin construction work on the new barrier. "Lookin' good, Sonar!" Casey nodded, saluting the husky with a thumbs-up of which she returned. "I'm so glad you're safe, Jack!" Jack and Casey grinned. Her eyes were shut tight in the moment of the smile until she slowly opened them, realising Gary was staring at her with a peculiar expression. "Uh... I'll go get us all some drinks! Gary?" Casey fidgeted, scratching her head "Do you wanna maybe share a cocktail?" Gary's eyes widened. "Uh... No." This rather blunt response was a harsh blow to the coyote, causing her expression to droop faster than an ice cream corgi on a hot summer's day. Panicking, Gary quickly corrected himself. "It's not that I don't want to! It's just that I've had a lot to drink as it is, y'know... drinking cold water off the floor and such... Wait, I never did clean the floor, did I? I'll be right bac-" Before Gary could finish his sentence, Jack had transformed his hand into a towel, absorbing all of the water and letting it free down the train through his other hand which was transformed into a tap. At the same time, Casey quickly lifted the water cooler and placed it back into position. "Heh, don't worry about it! You guys have fun. How about smoothies, Gaz?" Jack wiggled his eyebrows at Casey, subtly pointing his hand over to Gary by stretching it behind him." Gary and Casey were stood at a respectable distance next to each other, uncomfortably smiling at this far from comfortable situation they landed themselves into. "Oh, that sounds nice... So long as it isn't coming out of your weird ice cream body or something, heh." Casey laughed along with Gary, causing him to ease up a little. "Eurgh, no way man! That's just gross." Jack pouted, suddenly thumping his hands to his hips that caused his face wobble once again, much to the amusement of Gary and Casey. "I'll be right back!" "C'mon Gary, let's go sit over here." Casey directed Gary to a calm corner of the balcony which had two polished oak chairs and a polished table, complete with a bowl of (unfortunately) polished fruit in the centre. "Oh, this is a nice spot. What's with the umbrella though, there's no weather out here in space..." Gary scoffed, though Casey laughed at his remark. "Easy smartbutt. Our ships land, remember?" She smirked, leaning towards Gary. "Though between you and me... Melissa and I had this fitted in so we could still chill on the balcony when we visited a rainy planet." Gary scrunched his lips in embarrassment. "Yeah, okay. I hadn't thought that one through, heh..." He laid back into the chair, fidgeting around for a moment until he found the perfect comfortable position. "You okay there, dude?" Casey giggled as she watched Gary shuffle into various positions. "Yeah, I guess. This just feels... Weird." He sat still for a moment. "What feels weird? Sitting?" She laughed once again, her chortle having a certain screechy pitch that was oddly contagious to the guide dog. "Heh, no, not that, just... Relaxing. I never do that..." Gary continued to fidget. "You're doing it all wrong, dude! You gotta just sit there and let your body loose. Don't worry about a thing." This of course baffled Gary. "How do you even do that?" Before Gary could continue, Casey sternly cut him off. "You have to make time, man! You can't go about your life without taking a moment to recharge, man. If you ever need anyone to fool around with, hit me up. I'm always looking for an excuse to slack off, heh." Gary was aware of the concept of relaxation, but he was far from familiar with it. In fact, this was one of the rare moments where he had nothing in particular on his schedule, until he realised he could probably try and sell the goods from his pockets to Casey. He glanced up at her and, noticing her smile, took a deep breath and decided not to unleash his irritating sales tactics, just this once. Thankfully, Jack had returned, nonchalantly whistling as he strolled through the alcove. He was pushed aside by a raging ball of fire that was his boyfriend Roary, his fists clenched as he marched into the middle of the balcony. Jack dropped his latte in surprise which nearly spilt onto the ground but was rescued by his hand shape shifting into a makeshift mug. "YOU!" He roared out to the group of animals surrounding Sonar, startling her, causing her hammer to drop to the ground whilst her facial expression was still set in stone. "My BOYFRIEND was floating away in space, and NOBODY told me?!? He could've frozen to death!" Jack tossed his extended arms around Roary, dragging himself over him for a comforting hug. "Sorry man, but we didn't really have much time to react." Melissa confirmed with Sonar that she was okay and sat in between Gary and Casey, not noticing her potential interruption of their conversation, of which Gary awkwardly smiled to Casey who returned a shrug. Roary sat next to Melissa with a blazing trail of rage following behind him. Jack followed, pulling over a patio chair to sit next to Roary and cooled him down with a makeshift ice pack formed from his other hand, as he was still using the other one to sip his latte. "Here's your smoothies, guys!" Jack's forehead opened on a hinge, swinging backwards to reveal two smoothies inside an otherwise hollow shell that emitted an icy aroma. Gary flinched his hand back, disgusted by the ordeal; this wasn't the case with Casey, who quickly nabbed her smoothie, seemingly familiar with Jack's storage antics. She chose the strawberry smoothie, which left Gary with the banana smoothie. "Aw, c'mon man! This happens all the time, I promise it's fine! Give it a try." Casey fetched Gary's smoothie for him and passed it over, allowing Jack to close his head, sending his eyes in a spin in the process. Gary reluctantly held the smoothie in his hand; he kept swaying back and forth from being about to drink it to putting it back on the table. Thankfully the peer pressure of the overly excitable crew managed to push him far enough to try a sip. As the icy cold banana smoothie flowed down his throat, he felt his taste-buds tingle as his face transitioned from being scrunched up to rather delighted. "Oh, this is quite nice, actually!" Jack and Casey grinned to one another. "Yeah, right? Serving them cool makes that taste so much better." Jack smiled, taking a sip of his latte. "Besides Roary, Gary was able to save me thank to his fishing rod. What did you have that for, anyways?" Jack patted the ice pack on Roary's everlasting rage-filled forehead; Roary simply grumbled in response. "Oh, I just carry these things around to sell." Gary rummaged through his pockets and laid everything out on the table. "If there's anything anybody wants, just let me know." As Gary finished laying out his products, an aroma of suspicion filled the table. Roary had whipped out a scroll to begin 'rage writing' a poem to calm his anger whilst Melissa raised an eyebrow in disinterest. Jack and Casey decided to check out the products despite their knowledge of Gary's tactics. Jack instantly noticed something that caught his eye. "Oh man, an Olly Purrs CD! It's the latest one, too!" Melissa tried to subtly warn Jack of Gary's often overpricing on his items, sternly shaking her head in disapproval. Despite this, Jack decided to dismiss his sister's advice and continued to show interest. "How much would you want for it?" Gary considered his options but recalled his interactions with Scott not so long ago. "10 Coins would do just fine." This surprised all three of the animals, including Roary, who dropped his scroll in shock. "Dude, really? That's like, the normal retail price!" Jack's eyes lit up only for them to dim instantly upon Melissa leaning into the table "So, what's the catch? There's no way you're charging that. Surely you're gonna charge double the price or something." Gary softly held up his hands and grinned through the side of his mouth. "No tricks here, promise. Just retail price. Scott wanted to meet with me to discuss my relations with the Planet Protectors and we managed to meet in a middle ground. So long as I let him know when I'm low on money rather than resorting to tactics to get more cash, the Planet Protectors will support me, so long as I always disclose the option to hear information." Jack slipped the CD into his pockets and handed ten coins over to Gary. "That sounds great!" Melissa's suspicion slowly depleted as she checked out the products for sale. "Oh, this beach ball is really cute! I could take that with me on my trips to Friscora. How much do you want for it?" Gary picked up the beach ball, observing its quality. "Well, it's quite scuffed, so you can just have it." He handed it over to Melissa, who's jaw dropped from her body in shock. She quickly scooped it back up and repositioned herself. "Aw, Gary! Please take this though. You have to afford to live!" She tossed over a few coins for the beach ball. "Hey, thanks! It's a load out of my pockets, anyway." Casey had her eyes fixated on the products for a while but suddenly dropped her attention. "Eh. I already have most of these things." She shrugged. "I'm trying to keep my knickknacks down for now, heh." Gary was about to reply when he was interrupted by the sound of faint screaming creeping closer and closer down the balcony until it reached a peak when a group of animals rushed through the balcony alcove. The screaming came from the ever-concerned Rufus, who shuddered whilst hiding behind the leader of the Planet Protectors, Cindy, and her brother Scott. Audrey had also tagged along with them to observe the situation. "Where is he?!?" Cindy looked up at the starry depths of space, only for them to be empty. "Oh, hey guys! I'm alright." Jack flipped on a pair of shades, leaning back on his chair, arms folded behind his back. "W-what? How did you-?" Rufus stuttered whilst the ice cream corgi finished sipping his latte. "Gary saved me! I got a little carried away whilst listening to music and floated off, but this guy happened to have a fishing rod on him. Thanks to Casey and Sonar extending their weapons to help reach me, Gary reeled me in whilst I held onto those weapons!" Jack began but Cindy had already taken in the basics and was ready to go. "Oh, that's great! I gotta dash now, Skye needs me for Operation Husky preparations. I'll see you all later!" With that, Cindy took off. Audrey did not say anything, but observing the situation, she followed behind Cindy and left the alcove to return to her post. "I could've frozen to death out there, but-" Jack stopped. "Oh. She's already gone." He scratched his head, laughing it off. "Heh, you know my sister, always busy. I'm sure she'll catch up with us later, Jack." Scott pulled a bean bag over for Rufus to sit on and a patio chair for himself. They sat themselves in-between Gary and Casey, much to the coyote's dismay. "So you saved Jack, Gary? That's amazing! Thank you for your service." Jack shaped a teacup out of his hand and shook it towards Scott, who politely declined due to having plenty earlier in the meeting. "No problem. The fishing rod is on sale, if anyone wants a piece of memorabilia from the day, heh." Everyone smiled, though Gary still felt a little awkward. "That was a joke, by the way." He added, slipping the fishing rod back into his pocket somehow. Rufus noted the silence and was quick to correct it, feeling uncomfortable in such situations. "Oh, are you selling those bolts Gary? I could do with some!" This was Rufus' attempt at 'small talk'; he didn't expect to actually buy the bolts as he expected the price to be quite steep but was surprised at the guide dog's response. "Sure, just toss a couple coins over and they're yours." Rufus slid the coins over and pocketed the bolts. "Oh, that's great Gary! These will work wonders on my anti internal combustion engine. I can let Kaiya know she can stop searching the basement for spare bolts!" Rufus wagged his stubby white tail in excitement, eager to return to work. "Oh, yeah! How is the Helper Bot I issued you?" Rufus pulled out a holographic report card from his belt button. "I just want to log maintenance and make sure it's still working as intended." The basset hound began to type using his fingers, pressing on the display. "They're working just fine. They're quite good company, honestly" Gary chuckled; throughout the conversation, Scott kept nodding in approval of Gary's actions, which made him feel an emotion he perceived as 'good'. It wasn't all too familiar to him. Sonar walked over to the table, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Was Cindy just here?" She tapped her belt button which lit up, allowing her to store her weapons inside of it. "Yup. You just missed her, dude." Casey slurped on the last remaining droplets of her smoothie. "Cheers, Gary!" The guide dog had yet to finish his drink but fumbled around with it before eventually clinking it against Casey's drink. "That's a shame. I'm sure she would've liked to see our newly formed fence." Sonar pointed her thumb over to the fence she had finished constructing, which sparkled in the shimmering reflection of the stars above. "Oh, that's lovely!" Roary had appeared to cool down, evident from him swatting Jack's ice pack away from his head due to slight brain-freeze. "Yeah, you did a great job! Hopefully that prevents this happening again, heh..." Jack blushed, finishing his latte to direct attention elsewhere. "Just be careful in the future, Jack. You're lucky Gary and our crew were able to help you in time." Scott suddenly jumped in recollection, tossing his tea out and into his cup with elegance. "Oh, that reminds me! Has Gary filled you in yet? Our meeting was a success. From now on, communication between the Planet Protectors and Gary will be as smooth as butter!" Jack formed a slab of butter from his arm, pulling a goofy face to which the table gave a hearty laugh to. "Heh, he told us. It's great, Gary! I hope we can continue to trust you in the future." Melissa had appeared to ease up towards the guide dog considering her usual distaste for him. "Right, break time." Sonar left towards her dorm, seemingly not considering this current gathering as her idea of a relaxing time. This wasn't at any surprise to the crew as Sonar often left social occasions; so long as every animal pitched in and worked hard, it did not matter how they decided to spend their time and relax. Gary was enjoying the final sip of his smoothie and was about to relax until he suddenly felt his communicator vibrating in his pocket. Upon grabbing it, his eyes widened at a message from Sabre, the leader of Team Velocity. "Hey, Gaz. Get over here ASAP. I want to continue with 'the plan'."'' With that, Gary sprung up from his chair, startling those'' around him. "Well, this was all lovely, but I really must get going now. It's getting quite late and all-" Rufus checked his own communicator, only for it to display the time as half past eleven in the morning. "Uhh... It's still quite early." Gary scoffed at Rufus, yanking open Jack's head to tidy up his smoothie and quickly shutting it, wobbling Jack's entire form in surprise. "Hah, this is very late for me, you know... Tons of responsibilities to fulfil and such." Whilst the others stared at Gary in bafflement (apart from Melissa, who had her eyes pinned on Gary in ultimate suspicion), Scott happened to catch wind on Gary's charade he had set up all so quickly. As Gary was about to scurry away, Scott called him over. "Hey, I know you're going to Velocity-" Gary, in a desperate attempt to hide the truth, dramatically shrugged his shoulders as sweat dripped from his nose. "What? I have no idea where you got that idea from-" Gary soon dropped the act after noticing Scott smirking at him. "You're awful at this, aren't you?" Scott laughed. "It's okay, you have business to conduct. I just wanted to give you a little something for your travels and help out here." Scott handed Gary a small drawstring netted bag that was filled with coins. "There's about twenty coins or so in there; that should sort you out for a while. I really appreciate you visiting, Gary. I hope this rings the start of a better relationship for the both of us." Gary held the bag in his hands, unsure on how to emote. "Wh- Really? Are you sure?" Scott nodded, finding amusement from the goofy guide dog's social incompetence. "Don't worry about it. You saved a member of my crew, after all. We have some spare change after budgeting, so all is good." Gary was still quite hesitant, but the wolf returned a reassuring nod that put him at ease. "Thank you so much, Scott. I hope so too." Gary began to leave, however Scott had one more thing to say. "Don't forget, if you find any information, please let us know as soon as possible. You'll get a good price for it." Gary agreed with Scott, quickly collecting his belongings and equipping his backpack that he had placed next to his chair. "Sure thing, Scott. Alright, I'll see you all soon-" Gary was heading through the alcove but the remaining members of the crew were quite curious on where he was heading to. Melissa stretched over to block the alcove's path. "So, where exactly are you heading off to in such a hurry, huh?" Melissa had her arms crossed, she was in an ever-permanent state of disbelief of anything the guide dog says; straight after promising honesty, this did not give off a good impression to the irate ice cream corgi Melissa. "Uhh, I just have to get groceries, that's all." Gary softly smiled, internally feeling quite confident over his excuse. It didn't seem to work as well as he'd hoped though. "You have to go right now? What's the hurry?" Roary remarked. "Yeah! You ought to stay and chill a while longer." Jack added, Casey agreeing with him. "I really mustn’t, the Helper Bot gets hungry when there's no food in the fridge." As he finished his sentence and realised what he said, Gary felt a wave of embarrassment wash over and drown him. "But... Helper Bots don't eat? They're robots..." Rufus added more details to his report card, which read "They can eat ? ? ?". "Right..." Gary squinted over to Scott in a desperate plea for help however the wolf simply smirked at him, trying to hold back his laughter. He decided to put Gary out of his misery, standing aside him and explaining. "It's okay. Gary's just on another business trip to Velocity. Right, Gary?" Scott nudged the reluctant Guide Dog. "Right... Sorry, guys. It's just... I don't know what Sabre wants exactly, but it kinda scares me... I'm gonna proceed with caution and keep you posted, Scott." Jack laughed at Gary's hesitance with a cocky grin. "If it's anything to do with his whole Husky extinction plan, he's a fool for even considering it since we have Sonar on our side. That guy's gonna be toast." The nodded alongside Jack, although Rufus felt uneasy and noticed Gary having a similar aura with his nervous smile. "Right... But I still think we should take this seriously. All life is important, and we need to protect every Husky!" Rufus spoke up, feeling as if he was somewhat speaking on behalf of the guide dog too. "Agreed. Please keep us posted, Gary. Good luck out there." Scott and the crew waved Gary out as he walked through the alcove. Before leaving, he turned around for one last remark. "I'll try my best to persuade him to step down on whatever he has planned. Y'know, in a way that doesn't anger him and completely mangle my lifeless body." The others actually laughed at his joke on this occasion; Gary was surprised by this due to his jokes usually receiving poor reception. He wondered whether his sense of humour had improved but dismissed that on account of finding himself quite the comical genius. The guide dog said his goodbyes to the crew and stepped through the corridor; this time with full awareness he was able to clearly read the signs and direct himself to the teleportation pad that he entered from. On his way through the corridor to the teleportation pad, Gary couldn't help but feel somewhat weird. He wasn't used to feeling nice; at least he assumed this is what said weird feeling was. Due to not feeling it often, he wasn't quite sure, but if one thing was for certain, it was that he felt he could grow to the feeling. With that, the guide dog selected his location on a small touch screen display fitted on the wall and prepared to teleport back to the bus stop in Xylox. As he teleported to his destination, Gary was reminded of when he entered the ship, feeling on edge and lousy. It surprised him how well a small conversation between friends could make things all that better. Category:Hard Times Category:Chapters